This popularity will come as no surprise once you have sampled it for yourself. Back when the Cayenne first hit our streets, enthusiasts were up in arms – how could the Stuttgart-based firm produce such a monstrosity? They've got less to say now because the Cayenne (and the smaller Porsche Macan) sell in such numbers, they bankroll the firm's more desirable product lines. Spend £12,000 and you'll get a good example, £15,000 picks you a peach.īig SUVs aren't supposed to be fast and they're definitely not supposed to handle well, but the Porsche Cayenne didn't get the memo – it does both surprisingly well. The smooth shifting eight-speed auto is a wonder of German engineering and the optional adjustable dampers mean at the flick of a switch you can choose from firm and sporty or cosseting and comfortable. Whether you get the 330d or 335d diesels, or the fruiter-sounding 335i petrol, the BMW has a wealth of power and a chassis that handles better than any family wagon has any right to. The sensibly-inclined other half will love the 3 Series' spacious back seat, roomy boot, its smart dashboard design and its intuitive infotainment, they need not know you went for a pokey six-cylinder model. Yes, saviour comes in the form of an estate version of BMW's evergreen 3 Series – trust us, a Challenger II tank has more chinks in its armour. Especially not when cars like the BMW 3 Series Touring are readily available for the same price as a brand new Volkswagen Up. You're stumbling into your middle ages, the kids are growing up, the other half is saying "we need a car that is sensible" and you're thinking: maybe he/she is right. About £10,000 buys you a clean example with modern amenities like sat-nav and, while it's not the most practical of vehicles, it won't cost much to run and should prove very reliable. The beauty of the MX-5 is there's so little to hate. Sharp steering and a gearbox action that we're pretty sure was an angel's labour of love confirms the MX-5 as a feel-good car, so much so that we'd recommend the raspy 131PS 1.5-litre over the more workman like 160PS 2.0-litre. And dropping the pleasingly simply roof only amplifies the effect. You see, each and every MX-5 comes with the archetypal sports car engine – a four-cylinder, twin-cam that'll scream through its rev counter in a way that makes it sound like you're going twice as quick as you really are. Well, not if you count 'fast' as a number – most diesel family cars will destroy an MX-5 on paper – but if 'fast' is a feeling, trust us, it feels quick enough. The Mazda MX-5 joins this list of cars that are fast and cheap carrying a slight caveat – it's, erm, not that fast. A budget of £11,000 is all you need to get on the GTI ladder, but spend a bit more and you could have a car equipped with the Performance Pack, which adds bigger brakes, a little more power and a grip-finding limited-slip differential. The fun bit comes in the form of a 2.0-litre engine producing at least 220PS, mated to a chassis that's taught yet compliant. Cabin quality is also slightly better and you get exactly the same amount of space, so room for four and a boot that's so well designed, da Vinci could have done it. For a kick off, the old car's infotainment won't have you nutting the windscreen in frustration, like the glitchy new model's and you also get, praise be – a proper volume knob. Okay, so in the spirit of this list of cars that are fast and cheap, we have gone for the older model, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Congrats, you've imagined the human equivalent of the Volkswagen Golf GTI. Imagine a partner that looks great, has amazing chat, dresses well, is intelligent, but cooks, cleans and is also riotously good fun at the weekend. Maintenance is expensive, but a talented Porsche this cheap will be almost immune to depreciation. Okay, so it only has two seats, but it also has a boot at either end (that mid-engine layout paying dividends agains) and you get a surprising amount of interior storage. Even the basic 245PS 2.7-litre flat-six sounds epic, is good for 160mph and 0-62mph in six seconds, and it's more reliable than the fragile pre-2010 3.4-litre fitted to the Cayman S. Its steering is sublime, its brakes are bursting with power and it's mid-engine layout means you can choose between understeer and oversteer on a whim. Legend has it that the Cayman handled so well, Porsche had to artificially restrain it to stop it showing up the larger and more expensive Porsche 911 on track. And this is no dud Porsche, actually – it's one of the best. You would think that, but you'd be incorrect because early examples of the Porsche Cayman (the 987 for all you chassis sleuths) is yours for less than £10,000. A Porsche? On a list of the best cars that are cheap? Something must be wrong.
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